One of the fights Top Rank chairman Bob Arum is eager to make is a showdown for the undisputed junior welterweight world title between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor, two boxers he promotes and each of whom holds two major belts.

Ramirez and Taylor, who also both want to fight each other for 140-pound supremacy, won recent mandatory bouts with Ramirez outpointing former titlist Viktor Postol on Aug. 29 and Taylor obliterating Apinun Khongson via first-round knockout on Sept. 26.

Arum plans to put the fight together to take place in early 2021. While Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) is free and clear of any mandatory obligations that would interfere with the fight, that is not the case with Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs). He is saddled with another mandatory defense against England’s unbeaten Jack Catterall.

Arum has said that he plans to talk with WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel to see if something can be worked out so that Ramirez have a one-fight exception in order to first face Taylor, even though the WBO mandatory is due and has been ordered.

Following the classic slugfest between former world title challenger Jose Zepeda and former world titleholder Ivan Baranchyk, which featured Zepeda winning by explosive fifth-round knockout in a fight that featured eight knockdowns (each man was dropped four times), on Saturday night inside the bubble of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Arum said he would make an offer to Catterall to face Zepeda (33-2, 26 KOs), 31, of La Puente, California, on the undercard of a Ramirez-Taylor fight, but added that he believed Catterall would turn it down.

“I would offer Catterall a lot of money to fight Zepeda but there’s no way he’s going to do that,” Arum told BoxingScene after Zepeda-Baranchyk. “I’d love to see that fight. I’d love to do it on the Ramirez-Taylor card.”

Catterall (25-0, 13 KOs), 27, of England, saw Arum’s comment and wrote on social media on Monday that Arum should “send the numbers over then (to) MTK Global.”

Catterall is managed by MTK Global, which has a close relationship with Top Rank.

On Wednesday, Catterall said that he is interested in a fight with Zepeda or in any other significant bout.

“I’m excited to be in all these future fights,” Catterall said to BoxingScene.com. “I’m mandatory for Ramirez’s WBO world title and I have faith in my management (at) MTK that they will do what is best for my career. I thought Zepeda-Baranchyk was an entertaining fight. Again, I’d love to be involved in these type of fights. I’m ready to prove myself at this level when the opportunity presents itself. I’m excited to get my hands on my world title.

“MTK are in talks to secure the best possible route for me. I’m confident they will deliver and when they do I’ll be ready for anyone at 140 pounds, period!”

Catterall, who turned pro in 2012, is former British junior welterweight champion. He is coming off a lopsided unanimous 10-round decision victory over Timo Schwarzkopf last November in Dubai.

Dan Rafael was ESPN.com's senior boxing writer for fifteen years, and covered the sport for five years at USA Today. He was the 2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism.